Electronic authentication system, authentication apparatus, and terminal

ABSTRACT

A simple, easy, and safe electronic settlement system is provided. A user terminal such as a cellular phone is wirelessly connected to a synchronizing server. A cashier server of a mail order retailer activates a virtual cashier terminal, and connects to the synchronizing server. The synchronizing server sets a transaction identifying number in order to identify the transaction, and sends to the user terminal information about the cashier server and the transaction identifying number. A user confirms the cashier server, and returns the transaction identifying number to the synchronizing server. The synchronizing server completes a transaction between the virtual cashier terminal and the user terminal, both of which are corresponded to each other by the transaction identification number. The user can complete a settlement of mail order without telling his or her personal information such as a credit card number or a password to a mail order retailer. A security of the system is improved.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation application under 35 U.S.C. § 120based on and claiming the benefit of International Application SerialNo. PCT/JP99/04178 (U.S. Designated), filed on Aug. 2, 1999, andInternational Application Serial No. PCT/JP00/02015 (U.S. Designated),filed on Mar. 29, 2000.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an electronic settlement system, asettlement apparatus, and its terminal. In particular the presentinvention relates to an electronic settlement system and a settlementapparatus, which may perform a settlement of a commercial transactionelectronically via a telecommunication network, and its terminal.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventionally, in an electronic settlement system, which executes asettlement of a commercial transaction electronically via acommunication network, personal data such as a credit card number issent in the form of digital data such as a credit card number via theInternet. Sending personal data such as a credit card number directly,the credit card number may be stolen and suffer from a false use. Thus,it is necessary to keep personal data from being leaked by using a highlevel of cryptology. To improve security, the electronic settlementsystem needs a complex authenticating procedure however this sacrificesconvenience.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to solve such a problemand provide a safe and convenient electronic settlement system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide anelectronic settlement system, a settlement apparatus, and its terminalwhich overcomes the above issues in the related art. This object isachieved by combinations described in the independent claims. Thedependent claims define further advantageous and exemplary combinationsof the present invention.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, an electronicsettlement system to settle a transaction using a telecommunicationnetwork, comprises a settlement apparatus which performs the settlementof the transaction; a billing terminal connecting to the settlementapparatus via the telecommunication network for performing billing ofthe transaction; and a paying terminal, connecting to the settlementapparatus via the telecommunication network for performing paying of thetransaction, wherein: the settlement apparatus performs the settlementof transaction by synchronizing a communication to the billing terminalwith a communication to the paying terminal when the settlementapparatus sets up a transaction identifying number which identifies thetransaction and when the paying terminal transmits to the settlementapparatus the same transaction identifying number as the transactionidentifying number.

The billing terminal may connect to the settlement apparatus via acommercial telephone line or a private line, and the paying terminalconnects to the settlement apparatus via a radiotelephone communication.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, a settlementapparatus performing a settlement of a transaction, which communicatesto a billing terminal performing billing of the transaction with to apaying terminal performing paying of the transaction, the apparatuscomprises a first communication unit connecting to the billing terminalvia a first telecommunication network; a second communication unitconnecting to the paying terminal via second telecommunication network;and a processing unit for processing the settlement of transaction, theprocessing unit synchronizing a communication to the billing terminalwith a communication to the paying terminal when the processing unitsets a transaction identifying number to identify the transaction, andwhen the paying terminal transmits to the settlement apparatus atransaction identifying number which is the same as the transactionidentifying number.

The first communication unit may connect to the billing terminal via acommercial telephone line or a private line, and the secondcommunication unit connects to the paying terminal via radiotelephonecommunication. The settlement apparatus may further comprises a billingterminal database which stores information about the billing terminal,wherein: the processing unit retrieves information about the billingterminal from the billing terminal database so that the billing terminalconfirms the paying terminal, the second communication unit transmits tothe paying terminal the information about the billing terminal inaddition to the transaction identifying number for identifying thetransaction, and when the paying terminal confirms the information aboutthe billing terminal, and transmits the transaction identifying numberto the settlement apparatus, the processing unit synchronizes thecommunication to the billing terminal with the communication to thepaying terminal, and the first communication unit transmits asynchronization confirmation signal which indicates establishment ofsynchronization with the billing terminal.

The second communication unit may transmit to the paying terminal theinformation about the billing terminal and the transaction identifyingnumber being attached to an internet link address, a user of the payingterminal accesses the link address so that the information about thebilling terminal and the transaction identifying number are returnedfrom the paying terminal, and the processing unit synchronizes thebilling terminal identified by the information about the billingterminal with the communication to the paying terminal.

The processing unit may process the settlement of transaction betweenthe billing terminal and the paying terminal, both of which aresynchronized each other by the transaction identifying number. The firstcommunication unit may receive a purchase amount of the transaction fromthe billing terminal, and the processing unit processes the settlementof transaction for a user of the paying terminal based on the purchaseamount that the first communication unit receives from the billingterminal.

The first communication unit may receive a purchase amount of thetransaction from the billing terminal, the second communication unit maytransmit the purchase amount to the paying terminal so that the payingterminal confirms the purchase amount, and receives a final purchaseconfirmation signal to confirm purchase amount the from the payingterminal, the processing unit may perform a settlement processing afterthe second communication unit receives the final purchase confirmationsignal from the paying terminal, the first communication unit maytransmit a settlement completion notification, which notifies completionof the settlement processing performed by the processing unit to thebilling terminal, and the second communication unit may transmit to thepaying terminal a receipt which notifies the receiving of the purchasingamount of the settlement processing by the processing unit.

The settlement apparatus may further comprises a billing terminaldatabase storing information about the billing terminal, wherein: thefirst communication unit receives an identifying number to identify thebilling terminal from the billing terminal, and the processing unitretrieves information about the billing terminal from the billingterminal database and confirms a registration of the billing terminal,based on the identifying number. The second communication unit transmitsto the paying terminal the information about the billing terminal, forthe paying terminal to confirm the billing terminal, retrieved from thebilling terminal database.

The settlement apparatus may further comprises a paying terminaldatabase which stores information about the paying terminal, wherein thesecond communication unit detects a calling telephone number of thepaying terminal, the processing unit retrieves information about a userof the paying terminal from the paying terminal database based on thecalling telephone number, and the processing unit inquires at least oneof a registration status of the user, a payment history of the user, andavailable amount of the user.

The processing unit may retrieve at least a part of attributeinformation of the user of the paying terminal from the paying terminaldatabase, and the first communication unit transmits to the billingterminal at least a part of the attribute information of the user of thepaying terminal. When the second communication unit receives a messagewhich demands a purchase history of the user of the paying terminal, theprocessing unit may retrieve the purchase history of the user from thepaying terminal database, and the second communication unit transmitsthe purchase history to the paying terminal.

The first communication unit may receive from the billing terminal anitem ordering information which is for a user of the paying terminal toinput an order of an item, the second communication unit transmits theitem ordering information to the paying terminal, and when the payingterminal transmits an order of item, inputted by the user of the payingterminal based on the item ordering information, to the settlementapparatus, the first communication unit transmits the order of item tothe billing terminal.

The settlement apparatus may further comprises a voice database whichstores user voice data of the paying terminal, wherein: the secondcommunication unit transmits a message which prompts the paying terminalto input user voice and receives the user voice from the payingterminal, and the processing unit, by inquiring the voice of the userusing the voice database, authenticates the user.

The settlement apparatus may authenticate the user, by the processingunit retrieving authentication information registered by the user of thepaying terminal from the paying terminal database, the secondcommunication unit may transmit an instruction which inquires theauthentication information to the paying terminal, and the payingterminal receives an answer inputted corresponding to the instructionfrom the paying terminal, and the processing unit may inquire the answerreceived from the paying terminal to the authentication informationretrieved from the paying terminal database.

The paying terminal database may store a plurality of authenticationinformation registered by the user, and the processing unit selects atleast one of the plurality of authentication information from the payingterminal database at random.

The authentication information registered by the user of the payingterminal, which the processing unit retrieves from the paying terminaldatabase, may be at least one of a password of the user, voice dataspoken from the user, a face image data of the user, a image data ofiris or retina of the user, and an image data of finger print of theuser, and the answer the processing unit receiving from the payingterminal in order to inquire with the authentication information is atleast one of character data, voice data, and image data.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, a billingterminal, communicating with a settlement apparatus which performs asettlement of transaction, for performing billing of the transaction,with a paying terminal which performs paying of the transaction, thebilling terminal comprises: a communication unit which connects to thesettlement apparatus via a telecommunication network, the communicationunit transmitting an identifying number to identify the billing terminalto the settlement apparatus, and the communication unit receiving asynchronization confirmation signal indicating an establishment ofsynchronization with the paying terminal from the settlement apparatus;and a processing unit which performs billing processing of thetransaction.

The communication unit may connect to the settlement apparatus by one ofa commercial telephone line, a private line, and a radiotelephonecommunication. In case that the communication unit receives thesynchronization confirmation signal, which indicates establishment ofsynchronization with the paying terminal, from the settlement apparatus,the communication unit may perform processing of the settlement oftransaction to the paying terminal which is synchronized with thebilling apparatus. In case that the communication unit transmits apurchase amount of the transaction to the settlement apparatus and thesettlement apparatus performs the settlement of transaction to a user ofthe paying terminal which is synchronized with, the communication unitmay receive a settlement completion notification which notifies acompletion of the settlement processing from the settlement apparatus.

The communication unit may transmit an order information of the item,which prompts a user of the paying terminal to input an order of an itemto the settlement apparatus, and receives the order inputted by the userof the paying terminal based on the order information from thesettlement apparatus, the processing unit may calculate the purchaseamount based on the order, and the communication unit may transmit thepurchase amount calculated by the processing unit to the settlementapparatus, and receives a settlement completion notification whichnotifies a completion of the settlement process from the settlementapparatus.

In case that the user of the paying terminal orders an item to an orderreceiving center which accepts the order of the item and thecommunication unit receives the order of the user from the orderreceiving center, the processing unit may calculate the purchase amountbased on the order, and the communication unit transmits the purchaseamount calculated by the processing unit to the settlement apparatus andreceive a settlement completion notification which notify a completionof the settlement process from the settlement apparatus. Thecommunication unit may receive at least a part of attribute informationof the user of the paying terminal from the settlement apparatus.

According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a recordingmedium which stores a program for a computer, communicating to a billingterminal performing billing of a transaction with to a paying terminalperforming paying of the transaction, and performing the settlement oftransaction, the program comprises a first communication module whichoperates the computer to communicate to the billing terminal via acommercial telephone line or a private line; a second communicationmodule which operates the computer to communicate to the paying terminalvia a radio telephone communication; and a processing module whichperforms the settlement of transaction, wherein the processing modulesets a transaction identifying number which identifies the transactionand the processing module synchronizes a communication to the billingterminal with a communication to the paying terminal when the payingterminal transmits a transaction identifying number which is the same asthe transaction identifying number to the settlement apparatus.

According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, a method ofsettlement using a settlement apparatus which performs the settlement oftransaction while communicating to a billing terminal which performsbilling of a transaction with to a paying terminal which performs payingof the transaction, comprises steps of: establishing communication tothe billing terminal based on information identifying the billingterminal, and setting a transaction identifying number to identify anorder transaction of an item, when the paying terminal transmits theinformation identifying the billing terminal to the settlement apparatusfor ordering the item; transmitting information about the billingterminal with the transaction identifying number to the paying terminal;synchronizing a communication to the billing terminal with acommunication to the paying terminal when the paying terminal confirmsthe information about the billing terminal and transmits the transactionidentifying number to the settlement apparatus; transmitting asynchronization confirmation signal which indicates that thesynchronization is established with the billing terminal; receiving theorder of the item from the paying terminal; transmitting the order ofthe item received from the paying terminal to the billing terminal;receiving a purchase amount based on the order of the item from thebilling terminal; and performing a process of settlement of thetransaction between the billing terminal and the paying terminal, bothof which are synchronized each other by the transaction identifyingnumber, based on the purchase amount.

According to the sixth aspect of the present invention, a settlementmethod using a settlement apparatus performing a settlement of atransaction for communicating to a billing terminal performing billingof the transaction with to a paying terminal performing paying of thetransaction, comprises steps of: establishing communication to thebilling terminal and setting a transaction identifying number toidentify the transaction of order of an item, when the user of thepaying terminal orders the item to a order receiving center acceptingthe order of the item and the billing terminal receives the order of theitem ordered by the user from the order receiving center and transmitsinformation identifying the billing terminal to the settlementapparatus; transmitting information about the billing terminal with thetransaction identifying number to the paying terminal; synchronizing acommunication to the billing terminal with a communication to the payingterminal, when the paying terminal confirms the information about thebilling terminal and transmits the transaction identifying number to thesettlement apparatus; transmitting a synchronization confirmation signalindicating the establishment of synchronization with the billingterminal; receiving a purchase amount based on the order of the itemfrom the billing terminal; and processing settlement of the transactionbetween the billing terminal and the paying terminal, both of which aresynchronized each other by the transaction identifying number, based onthe purchase amount.

This summary of the invention does not necessarily describe allnecessary features of the present invention. The present invention mayalso be a sub-combination of the above described features. The above andother features and advantages of the present invention will become moreapparent from the following description of embodiments taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronicsettlement system of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a cellular phone as an example of a userterminal 20.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a synchronizingserver 30.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a mail order catalog.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a settlement processing in an electronicsettlement system of the first embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing a cashier data inquiry 206 processing.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a user data inquiry 208 processing.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing a password authentication 210 processing.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing synchronization 226 processing.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing an order input 234 processing.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing an available amount checking 244processing.

FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing a final purchase confirmation 248processing.

FIG. 13 shows examples of information indicated on a display unit 802 ofa user terminal 20.

FIG. 14 shows an explanatory figure of a form of link informationtransmitted to the user terminal 20.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a configuration figure of anelectronic settlement system of a second embodiment of the preventinvention.

FIG. 16 is a flow chart showing processing a settlement using anelectronic settlement system of the second embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flow chart showing a user data inquiry 306 processing.

FIG. 18 is a flow chart showing a voice authentication 308 processing.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart showing a cashier data inquiry 315 processing.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing a configuration figure of anelectronic settlement system according to the third embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 21 shows a configuration of a portable terminal that has acommunication facility as an example of a user terminal.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart showing the settlement processing using anelectronic settlement system of the third embodiment.

FIG. 23 is a flow chart showing a user image data authentication 211processing.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram showing a configuration figure of anelectronic settlement system according to the fourth embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 25 is a flow chart showing an electronic settlement systemprocessing according to the fourth embodiment.

FIG. 26 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of hardwarearchitecture of a general-purpose computer 600.

FIG. 27 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a functionalarchitecture of software executed on a CPU 602.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The invention will now be described based on the preferred embodiments,which do not intend to limit the scope of the present invention, butexemplify the invention. All of the features and the combinationsthereof described in the embodiment are not necessarily essential to theinvention.

(First Embodiment)

An electronic settlement system according to the first embodiment of thepresent invention will be explained as follows. Applying the electronicsettlement system of the present embodiment, a user, who read a mailorder advertisement in a newspaper, a magazine, a mail order catalog andso on, can order an item and execute a settlement via a network using auser terminal such as a portable telephone or a portable terminal.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronicsettlement system of the present embodiment. The electronic settlementsystem of the present embodiment has a virtual cashier terminal 12 as anexample of a billing terminal, a cashier server 14 which includes aplurality of virtual cashier terminals 12, a user terminal 20 as anexample of a paying terminal, a synchronizing server 30 as an example ofa settlement device, a carrier server 40, a cashier database 50 as anexample of a billing terminal database, a user database 60 as an exampleof a paying terminal database, and a user account database 70.

A transmission line 18, which is a communication line to connect thecashier server 14 or the virtual cashier terminal 12 with thesynchronizing server 30, may be either a commercial telephone line or aprivate line. A radio transmission channel 28 is a transmission path ofa radiotelephone communication to connect a user terminal 20 with acarrier server 40. A transmission line 38 is a communication line toconnect the carrier server 40 with the synchronizing server 30, and maybe either a commercial telephone line or a private line.

The cashier server 14 is a server system to represent distribution in amail order, which is composed of virtual cashier terminals 12 in theserver and performs billing of transactions to users.

The synchronizing server 30 performs a settlement of a commoditytransactions processing between mail order retailers and users. Thesynchronizing server 30 connects the cashier server 14 with the userterminal 20 via a telecommunication network and performs datacommunications.

As shown in FIG. 1, the virtual cashier terminal 12 in the cashierserver 14 is connected to the synchronizing server 30 via thetransmission line 18 and performs data communications.

The user terminal 20 directs to pay a value of the merchandise usingcredit means such as a credit card or a bankcard. An example of the userterminal 20 is a radiotelephone communication means such as a cellularphone. Another example of the user terminal 20 is a portable terminalsuch as a PDA or a notebook type personal computer and so on, whichcommunicates by connecting to radio communication means such as acellular phone.

FIG. 2 shows a configuration of a cellular phone as an example of a userterminal 20. The user terminal 20 has an antenna 800, a display unit802, a console unit 804, a keypad 806, and an infrared communicationunit 808. The user terminal 20 communicates to the carrier server 40using the antenna 800 via a radio transmission channel 28. The userterminal 20 has a data packet communication facility and transmits andreceives digital data. The display unit 802 displays characterinformation and image information transmitted and received by the datapacket communication facility. Using the console 804, a menu or buttonsdisplayed on the display unit 802 is selected. The keypad 806 providesbuttons to input telephone numbers, a password, and so on. Using theinfrared communication unit 808, data communication to an apparatushaving the infrared communication facility is performed.

The user terminal 20 connects to the carrier server 40 via the radiotransmission channel 28. The carrier server 40 connects to thesynchronizing server 30 via the transmission line 38. A directcommunicating means does not exist between the virtual casher terminal12 and the user terminal 20.

The synchronizing server 30 acquires information about the billing of acommodity transaction by communicating to the virtual cashier terminal12, and information about the paying of a commodity transaction bycommunicating to the user terminal 20, and then processing thesettlement of transactions between the virtual cashier terminal 12 andthe user terminal 20 by synchronizing the communication to the virtualcashier terminal 12 with the communication to the user terminal 20.

The synchronizing server 30 connects to the cashier database 50accumulating the information of the cashier server 14, the user database60 accumulating the information of the user terminal 20, and the useraccount database 70 accumulating the information of the credit accountor the bank account of users. And the synchronizing server 30 searcheseach database and retrieves the information. The synchronizing server30, the cashier database 50, the user database 60, and the user accountdatabase 70 may be arranged in a network of a credit company or a banknetwork. However, only the user account database 70 may be arranged inthe network of a credit company or the bank network, and thesynchronizing server 30 may be connected to the user account database 70via the private line.

FIG. 3 is a schematic figure showing configuration of the synchronizingserver 30. The synchronizing server 30 has a settlement processing unit80, a first communication unit 82 to process data communications via thetransmission line 18, a second communication unit 84 to process datacommunications via the transmission line 38 or the radio transmissionchannel 28, a cashier database 50, a database retrieving unit 86 whichaccesses the user database 60 and the user account database 70 andretrieves information from the databases.

A configuration of a “synchronizing settlement” using the electronicsettlement system of the present embodiment is described as follows. A“synchronizing settlement” is a method that does not communicate thevirtual cashier terminal 12 with the user terminal 20 directly, butrather processes a transaction settlement between the virtual cashierterminal 12 and the user terminal 20, by synchronizing communication inreal-time to the virtual cashier terminal 12 with the communication tothe user terminal 20 via the synchronizing server 30 which communicateswith both of the virtual cashier terminal 12 and the user terminal 20.

In the electronic settlement system, settlements of transactions areperformed between a plurality of virtual cashier terminals 12 and aplurality of user terminals 20. The synchronizing server 30 needs tospecify the virtual cashier terminal 12 billing the transaction and theuser terminal 20 paying the transaction for each transaction in order tosynchronize the communication to the virtual cashier terminal 12 withthe user terminal 20 and to process the transaction of settlementbetween the virtual cashier terminal 12 and the user terminal 20.

In order to synchronize the communication to the virtual cashierterminal 12 with the communication to the user terminal 20, a cashierterminal identifying information, as an example of a transactionidentifying information in order to identify a certain transaction, isdefined. When the synchronizing server 30 connects and communicates tothe cashier server 14, the synchronizing server 30 defines a cashierterminal identifying information which identifies a virtual cashierterminal 12 activated in the cashier server 14, and delivers the cashierterminal identifying information within a “link information” to the userterminal 20.

When the user answers the link information using the user terminal 20,the user terminal 20 delivers the cashier terminal identifyinginformation to the synchronizing server 30. If a virtual cashierterminal 12 which matches the cashier terminal identifying informationreceived from the user terminal 20 may be found in a plurality ofvirtual cashier terminals 12 issuing cashier terminal identifyinginformation, the synchronizing server 30 synchronizes the communicationto the virtual cashier terminal 12 with the communication to the userterminal 20. When matching cashier terminal identifying information maynot be found, the user terminal 20 is not synchronized with any virtualcashier terminals 12. Thus, for a certain transaction identified by thecashier terminal identifying information, the synchronizing server 30specifies the virtual cashier terminal 12 billing the transaction andthe user terminal 20 paying the transaction using the cashier terminalidentifying information, and synchronizes the communication to thevirtual cashier terminal 12 with the communication to the user terminal20, and processes the settlement. Therefore, without directlycommunicating the virtual cashier terminal 12 with the user terminal 20,the settlement of transactions may be performed between the virtualcashier terminal 12 and the user terminal 20.

User authentication performed by the synchronizing server 30 isdescribed as follows. A cellular phone as an example of a user terminal20 has a predetermined calling telephone number unique for each cellularphone, so that the predetermined calling telephone number is used withevery dialing. The calling telephone number is unique to each cellularphone, and any other cellular phone can not make a phone call with thesame calling telephone number. Therefore, as long as the original owneruses the certain cellular phone, the calling telephone number of acellular phone may be used for a user specifying identification. Thatis, a cellular phone may work as an ID like a drivers license.

Concerning the case that the owner of a cellular phone lost his or hercellular phone and someone else uses the lost cellular phone, thecellular phone may be uniquely specified with the calling telephonenumber, but the user of the cellular phone may not be specified to theowner of the cellular phone. The electronic settlement system storesdata corresponding to a calling telephone number of each cellular phonewith the information of the owner of each cellular phone in the userdatabase 60, and authenticates if the user of a cellular phone is theactual owner.

When the synchronizing server 30 connects to the user terminal 20, thesynchronizing server 30 detects a calling telephone number of the userterminal 20, retrieves the user database 60 based on the callingtelephone number, extracts information about the user, and authenticatesthe user. There are several authentication methods, such as visualauthentication, password authentication, voice authentication, and soon. These authentication methods may be combined with each other. Incase simple visual authentication is not secure enough, using complexauthentication, combining with other authentication methods such aspassword authentication for example, may improve accuracy of theauthentication.

Combining the “synchronizing settlement” and user authentication mayrealize an electronic settlement system that ensures security, protectsprivacy, and has a high level of reliability. Furthermore, a cellularphone or a portable terminal connecting for data communication to acellular phone and so on has a portability, that is the user may takethe terminal anywhere, and a simplicity, that is the user maycommunicate to a network via radio telephone communication fromanywhere. Therefore, an electronic settlement system of the presentembodiment enables to realize an electronic settlement with highreliability, security, and convenience.

Referring to FIG. 5 to FIG. 13, processing of the electronic settlementin which a user settles a payment with the electronic settlement systemof the present embodiment using a user terminal is described as follows.FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a settlement processing in an electronicsettlement system of the first embodiment. FIG. 6 to FIG. 12 are flowcharts showing processing of details in FIG. 5. FIG. 13 is an example ofinformation displayed on a display unit 802 of a user terminal 20.

Referring to FIG. 5, processing of the electronic settlement aredescribed as follows. A user starts electronic settlement by choosing asettlement menu from a user terminal 20 (200). Information prompting auser to input a “transaction ID” as shown in FIG. 13( a) is displayed onthe user terminal 20. The user inputs the transaction ID listed in amail order advertisement or a catalog (202). In the present embodimentthe transaction ID is a number in order to identify a cashier server 14performing a mail order distribution.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a mail order catalog. The transaction ID inorder to identify the mail order retailer and item numbers for each itemis written in the catalog. A user checks such a mail order catalog,orders item(s), and performs a settlement processing using a userterminal 20.

When the user chooses “transmission” in the transaction ID inputinformation, the user terminal 20 is connected to the synchronizingserver 30. The transaction ID is transmitted to the synchronizing server30 (204). The user may choose “cancel” in the transaction ID inputinformation if he or she wants to quit the settlement processing. Thiscancellation processing may be used in a case where the settlementprocessing may not be performed even when inputting a transaction IDcorrectly, caused by a communicating disorder and so on.

The synchronizing server 30 receives the transaction ID transmitted fromthe user terminal 20, using the transaction ID, makes an inquiry to acashier data (206).

Referring to FIG. 6, a processing of cashier data inquiry 206 isdescribed as follows. The synchronizing server 30 accesses the cashierdatabase 50 (2062) and retrieves cashier data that matches thetransaction ID (2064). Information such as a retailer name, anauthentication method, and an access number to the cashier server areregistered as cashier data. The authentication method may be chosen froma voice authentication method, a password authentication method and soon. The cashier data includes authentication methods to be used. Thesynchronizing server 30 decides to adopt the authentication methodregistered in the cashier data (2066). Here, a case in which it wasdecided that a password authentication method is to be adopted as anauthentication method, is described as follows.

Referring to FIG. 5 again, the synchronizing server 30 next processesthe user data inquiry 208. Referring to FIG. 7, the processing of theuser data inquiry 208 will be described. The synchronizing server 30retrieves a user terminal number from user terminal 20. When the userterminal 20 is a cellular phone, a user terminal number is the callingtelephone number. The synchronizing server 30 accesses the user database60 (2082) and checks if the user terminal 20 is registered based on theuser terminal number (2084). When the user terminal is not registered,the synchronizing server 30 transmits to the user terminal 20 a message“you are not registered.” (2086). Information, notifying that the userdoes not have user registration, shown in FIG. 13( b), is displayed onthe user terminal 20. The synchronizing server 30 shuts the connectionto the user terminal 20 down (2090) and finishes the processing.

The synchronizing server 30 may detect the calling telephone number ofthe user terminal 20 when the user chooses the synchronizing settlementmenu in the user terminal 20 and the user terminal 20 makes the firstaccess to the synchronizing server 30. In another case, thesynchronizing server 30 may detect the calling telephone number of theuser terminal 20 when the user inputs the transaction ID to the userterminal 20 and the user terminal 20 transmits the transaction ID to thesynchronizing server 30.

When the user registration is verified, user data is retrieved from theuser database 60 (2092). Information about the payment history of theuser is recorded in the user data. If the user has a problem in his orher payment history on his or her credit card or his or her bankcard andso on, it is checked based on the information (2094). When any problemis found in his or her payment history, a message “we cannot accept youraccess.” is transmitted to the user terminal 20 (2096). Informationnotifying that settlement is rejected, shown in FIG. 13( c), isdisplayed on the user terminal 20. The synchronizing server 30 shuts theconnection to the user terminal 20 down (2098), and finishes theprocessing.

Referring to FIG. 5 again, the synchronizing server 30 next processesthe password authentication 210. Referring to FIG. 8, the processing ofthe password authentication 210 will be described as follows. Thesynchronizing server 30 authenticates the user terminal based on theauthentication method decided in the user data inquiry 206. Here, a casethat the password authentication is chosen for the authentication methodis described as follows. In order to perform the passwordauthentication, the synchronizing server 30 retrieves data necessary forauthentication from the user database 60 and generates authenticationdata (2102). The synchronizing server 30 initializes a password requirecount variable n, which stores the password require count, to 0 (2104)The synchronizing server 30 increments n to n+1 (2106) and transmits apassword request message to the user terminal 20 (2108). Informationshown in FIG. 13( d) is displayed on the user terminal 20. The userinputs the password (2110). The user terminal 20 transmits the passwordinputted by the user to the synchronizing server 30 (2112). Thesynchronizing server 30 receives the password transmitted from the userterminal 20 and verifies the password (2114).

When the password transmitted from the user terminal 20 is incorrect, itis checked whether the required password count n is 2 or more (2116), ifnot, it goes back to the processing of 2106 and requests the passwordagain. If the required password count n is 2 or more, the authenticationprocessing is finished (2118) and an invalid message is transmitted tothe user terminal 20 (2120). Because the authentication is notconfirmed, information shown in FIG. 13( e) that the settlement serviceis not available is displayed on the user terminal 20 (2124).

In the password verification 2114, when the synchronizing server 30verifies the correct password, the processing of the passwordauthentication 210 is finished.

Referring back to FIG. 5 again, the synchronizing server 30 accesses thecashier server 14 using the access number for the cashier server that isretrieved in the processing of the cashier data inquiry 206 (212). Thecashier server 14 activates the virtual cashier terminal 12 configuredin the cashier server 14 (214). The virtual cashier terminal 12 is anapparatus or a processing working as a cashier terminal, and may be aterminal device provided in the cashier server or a program activated inthe cashier server. The virtual cashier terminal 12 accesses thesynchronizing server 30 (216).

The synchronizing server 30 creates “link information” (218). The linkinformation includes cashier server identifying information to identifya virtual cashier terminal 12 connected to the synchronizing server 30and cashier identifying information to identify the cashier server 14,such as the name of the retailer and a welcome message. Thesynchronizing server 30 sends the link information to the user terminal20 (220). The user terminal 20, receiving the link information from thesynchronizing server 30, displays the welcome message shown in FIG. 13(f) on the display. The user may confirm by looking at this informationthat the site is the correct mail order site he or she wanted to connectto. When the user chooses a link on the information, the user terminal20 transmits a link information confirming signal to the synchronizingserver 30 (224). The link information confirming signal includes thecashier terminal identifying information to identify the virtual cashierterminal 12 included in the link information.

When the user chooses “cancel” at this point, the electronic settlementmay be canceled. This cancellation processing is performed in such acase that the user inputted a wrong transaction ID and an unwanted mailorder site is shown in the display and so on.

The synchronizing server 30 establishes synchronization when a linkinformation confirming signal is received from the user terminal 20(226). Referring to FIG. 9, a processing of the synchronization 226 willbe described as follows.

The user terminal 20 transmits the link information confirming signalcorresponding to the link information sent from the synchronizing server30, so that the synchronizing server 30 establishes “synchronization”status.

First, the synchronizing server 30 is on an “access wait” status, thatis waiting to be accessed by the user terminal 20 and for a linkinformation confirming signal to be sent. In this “access wait” status,if a user terminal 20 using the same link information to be allocated tothe virtual cashier terminal 12 accesses, the synchronizing server 30establishes one to one “synchronization” status between that virtualcashier terminal 12 and the user terminal 20, and realizes asynchronization of the communication to the virtual cashier terminal 12with the communication to the user terminal 20. Access from a pluralityof the user terminals 20 will not be matched for one link information.

A time out limit is set up for the “access wait” status of thesynchronizing server 30, and limits the access wait period with the userterminal 20 to a predetermined length, for example, 3 minutes. When noanswer is obtained for the link information issued from the userterminal 20 after the time out limit, the synchronizing server 30 shutsdown the connection to the virtual cashier terminal 12, and initializesit. This time out function is set up in order to avoid trouble for caseswhere a user cancels the processing or that a communicating condition ofthe user terminal 20 with the synchronizing server 30 is poor so thatdata communication cannot be performed normally, and so on.

As shown in FIG. 9, the synchronizing server 30 on the “access wait”status checks if access from the user terminal 20 has existed, and if alink information confirming signal has been sent from the user terminal20 (2262). If there has been no access, it checks if it exceeds the timeout limit (2264), in case it exceeds, shuts the connection to thevirtual cashier terminal 12 down (2266), and finishes the processing.

When the user terminal 20 transmits the link information confirmingsignal, it is checked whether a virtual cashier terminal 12 on the“synchronizing wait” status corresponding to that link information isfound (2268), if not, it transmits a synchronizing error message to theuser terminal 20 (2270). The user terminal 20 displays the synchronizingerror message on the display (2272), and then the user terminal 20 shutsthe settlement processing down, and finishes the settlement.

When a virtual cashier terminal 12, which corresponds to the linkinformation transmitted from the user terminal 20, is found and on the“synchronizing wait” status, the synchronizing server 30 establishes a“synchronizing” status between that virtual cashier terminal 12 and theuser terminal 20 and synchronizes the communication with the virtualcashier terminal 12 and the communication to the user terminal 20(2274).

Referring back to FIG. 5 again, when the synchronization is established,the synchronizing server 30 sends a synchronizing signal to the virtualcashier terminal 12 (228). The virtual cashier terminal 12 receives thesynchronizing signal from the synchronizing server 30 and transmitsproduct information for mail ordering (230). The synchronizing server 30sends the product information received from the virtual cashier terminal12 to the user terminal 20 (232).

The user terminal 20 prompts the user to input to the user terminal 20an order of an item, based on the product information received from thesynchronizing server 30, (234). Referring to FIG. 10, a processing ofthe order input 234 will be described as follows. Information for anorder input as shown in FIG. 13( g) is displayed on the user terminal20. The user, referring to the mail order catalog shown in FIG. 4,orders an item by inputting an item number (2322). When the user chooses“send” and transmit the item number, information shown in FIG. 13( h) isdisplayed so that the user may confirm the chosen item. If the userchooses “OK” in FIG. 13( h), the information returns back to FIG. 13(g), and the user may input another order for the next item. If the userchooses “cancel” in FIG. 13( h), that order may be canceled. In theinformation shown in FIG. 13( g), when the user chooses “end of order”,information shown in FIG. 13( i) is displayed and all the ordered itemsmaybe confirmed (2324). If the user chooses “OK” in the informationshown in FIG. 13( i), the processing of the order input 234 will befinished. If the user chooses “cancel” in the information shown in FIG.13( i), the orders are canceled and information shown in FIG. 13( j) isdisplayed (2326), and the user terminal 20 transmits a cancel signal tothe synchronizing server 30 (2328). The synchronizing server 30, whichreceives the cancel signal from the user terminal 20, transmits a cancelsignal to the virtual cashier terminal 12. Then, the synchronizingserver 30 releases the synchronizing status of the user terminal 20 withthe virtual cashier terminal 12 (2332).

Referring back to FIG. 5 again, a processing after the user terminal 20has finished the order input 234 processing will be described asfollows. The user terminal 20 transmits the order information to thesynchronizing server 30 (236). The synchronizing server 30 sends orderinformation received from the user terminal 20 to the virtual cashierterminal 12 in the synchronizing status with the user terminal 20 (238).

The virtual cashier terminal 12 calculates a purchase amount based onthe order information received from the synchronizing server 30 (240),and transmits to the synchronizing server 30 the purchase amountinformation including the purchase amount (242). The synchronizingserver 30, receiving the purchase amount information from the virtualcashier terminal 12, performs the processing of the available amountchecking 244.

Referring to FIG. 11, the processing of the available amount checking244 will be described as follows. The synchronizing server 30 comparesthe purchase amount transmitted from the virtual cashier terminal 12with the available amount limit retrieved from the user database 60 inthe user data inquiry 208 (2442), if the purchase amount does not exceedthe available amount limit, the inquiry processing is finished. If thepurchase amount exceeds the available amount limit, a message “yourpurchase exceeds your available amount limit” is transmitted to the userterminal 20 (2444). The synchronizing status of the virtual cashierterminal 12 with the user terminal 20 is released (2446). Then,information shown in FIG. 13( k) is displayed on the user terminal 20.

Referring back to FIG. 5 again, the processing after available amountchecking 244 completed will be described. The synchronizing server 30transmits purchase amount information including the purchase amount tothe user terminal 20 (246). The user terminal 20, receiving purchaseamount information from the synchronizing server 30, performs theprocessing of the final purchase confirmation 248.

Referring to FIG. 12, the processing of the final purchase confirmation248 will be described as follows. The user terminal 20 displaysinformation shown in FIG. 13 (l) in order to display the purchase amount(2462). The user confirms if the purchase amount is correct (2464). Ifcorrect, the user chooses the “OK” on the display and finishes theprocessing of the final purchase confirmation 248. If the purchaseamount is incorrect, the user chooses to “cancel”. When the user choosesto “cancel”, information which shows the settlement is canceled as shownin FIG. 13( m) is displayed on the user terminal 20 (2466), the userterminal 20 transmits a cancel signal to the synchronizing server 30(2468). The synchronizing server 30, receiving the cancel signal fromthe user terminal 20, transmits a cancel signal to the virtual cashierterminal 12 (2470). The virtual cashier terminal 12 cancels thesettlement, and finishes the processing (2472). The synchronizing server30, after transmitting the cancel signal to the virtual cashier terminal12, releases the synchronization of the communication to the virtualcashier terminal 12 with the communication to the user terminal 20, andfinishes the processing (2474).

Referring back to FIG. 5 again, the processing after final purchaseconfirmation 248 finished will be described. The user terminal 20transmits a final purchase confirmation signal to the synchronizingserver 30 (250). The synchronizing server 30, receiving the finalpurchase confirmation signal from the user terminal 20, accesses theuser account database 70 and performs the settlement processing whichrecords the purchase information (252). When the settlement iscompleted, the synchronizing server 30 transmits a settlement completionnotification to the virtual cashier terminal 12 (254), transmits areceipt to the user terminal 20 (258). The virtual cashier terminal 12confirms the completion of the settlement and finishes the synchronizingsettlement (256). The user terminal 20 displays information shown inFIG. 13( n) of the completion of the settlement (152).

Cashier terminal identifying information, as an example of transactionidentify numbers described above, is information to identify the virtualcashier terminal 12, with which the user terminal 20 synchronizes toperform the transaction. A cashier terminal identifying number, forexample, created by random number generation may be used as the cashierterminal identifying information. But, when the random number generationis used, a same cashier terminal identifying number may be allocated ona plurality of the virtual cashier terminals 12. In such a case, thesynchronizing server 30 may not correspond a virtual cashier terminal 12to the user terminal 20 for the transaction performed by the userterminal 20. Therefore, cashier terminal identifying numbers areallocated in the way that the same cashier terminal identifying numbermay not be used two or more times in a predetermined period. On theother hand, the cashier terminal identifying number may be used againafter the predetermined period. Thus, without increasing the digits ofthe cashier terminal identifying number, uniqueness of the cashierterminal identifying number may be maintained.

The synchronizing server 30 has a further function that limits theallocation of the cashier terminal identifying number, which does notissue the cashier terminal identifying number the same as the cashierterminal identifying number of the virtual cashier terminal 12 in the“access wait” status, and ensures to prevent competition of the cashierterminal identifying number.

When there are many mail order servers, the cashier terminal identifyingnumbers created by random number generation may compete with each other.In such a case, in order to avoid the competition of numbers allocatedby two or more cashier servers, the range of the generated randomnumbers for the cashier terminal identifying number to each cashierterminal may be limited.

The cashier terminal identifying number is used for corresponding to theuser terminal 20 the virtual cashier terminal 12 identified by thecashier terminal identifying number and for establishing thesynchronization of the communications each other. Therefore, once“synchronization” is established to the cashier terminal identifyingnumber issued by the synchronizing server 30, and the “access wait” isreleased, the same cashier terminal identifying number may be used foranother transaction. The cashier terminal identifying number, eventhough it is a number for identifying transactions, does not need to bea large digit number such as a transaction ID, which is a number uniqueto every transaction; but needs to be large enough to keep theuniqueness for the period being allocated to the transaction andestablishing the “synchronization”.

In the description above, the synchronizing server 30 sends to the userterminal 20 cashier identifying information and cashier terminalidentifying information as an example of a transaction identifyingnumber in a form of “link information”. The user chooses “link”displayed on the user terminal 20. Then, the link information confirmingsignal, including the cashier terminal identifying information, istransmitted to the synchronizing server 30. FIG. 14 shows a form of thelink information transmitted to the user terminal 20. The synchronizingserver 30 sends the link information by e-mail to the user terminal 20.The e-mail includes the name of the mail order retailer, a welcomemessage, and an html link (UHL) that specifies the address to access thesynchronizing server 30. Furthermore, the cashier identifyinginformation and the cashier terminal identifying information areattached to the html link. In the example of FIG. 14, the html linkincludes “www.synchro.com” which is the address of the synchronizingserver 30, “abc-onlineshop” which is the cashier identifyinginformation, and “14685” which is the cashier terminal identifyinginformation. With these html links, when the user accesses the html linkin the e-mail, the user terminal 20 may access the synchronizing server30 via the carrier server 40. The synchronizing server 30 may retrievethe cashier identifying information “abc-onlineshop” attached with thehtml link and the cashier terminal identifying information “14685”. Thesynchronizing server 30 may correspond the user terminal 20 to thevirtual cashier terminal 12, and may establish synchronization based onthe obtained cashier identifying information and the cashier terminalidentifying information.

In the above described settlement processing, when the synchronizingserver 30 transmits the settlement completion notification 254 to thevirtual cashier terminal 12, the synchronizing server 30 may retrieve apart of an attribute information about the user of the user terminal 20which performs the payment of the settlement from the user database 60,and may transmit the information to the virtual cashier terminal 12. Theattribute information about the user transmitted to the virtual cashierterminal 12 preferably may be information about sex or age of a user andso on. On the other hand, personal information such as a name, anaddress, and a credit card number should not be included in theattribute information. The cashier server 14 may retrieve theinformation about the user who performed the payment of the settlement,may store the information about the item and the user data, and may forma purchase history database in the retailer's database. Thus, theretailer may detect buying behavior, such as an age group for users of acertain item from the purchase history stored in the database, so thatthe history may be used for marketing.

When the synchronizing server 30 receives the purchase amount of itemsfrom the virtual cashier terminal 12, the synchronizing server 30 mayalso receive the name or price of purchased items and detailedinformation of purchased items. The synchronizing server 30 may storethis information in the user database 60 as a user purchase history. Theuser terminal 20 may inquire about the user purchase history to thesynchronizing server 30, and receive the user purchase history from thesynchronizing server 30.

An electronic settlement system of the present embodiment enables userselectronic ordering and payment of mail order including magazines,catalogs and so on. The user may confirm if he or she is connected tothe mail order site he or she wanted before performing his or her orderwith the link information displayed on the portable terminal. Theretailer of mail order may specify the authentication method so that thesettlement may be performed after the authentication of the user withthe user password and so on.

(Second Embodiment)

An electronic settlement system according to the second embodiment ofthe present invention will be described as follows. Applying theelectronic settlement system of the present embodiment, as the firstembodiment, a user may order items and execute settlement via a network.The electronic settlement system of the present embodiment adopts voiceauthentication for the authentication method for user authentication.The rest of the embodiment is almost the same as the first embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing a configuration figure of anelectronic settlement system of the present embodiment. The electronicsettlement system of the present embodiment has a virtual cashierterminal 12 as an example of a billing terminal, a cashier server 14which includes a plurality of virtual cashier terminals 12, a userterminal 20 as an example of a paying terminal, a synchronizing server30 as an example of a settlement apparatus, a carrier server 40, acashier database 50 as an example of a billing terminal database, a userdatabase 60 as an example of a paying terminal database, a user accountdatabase 70, a voice authentication center 42, and a user voice database44.

The voice authentication center 42 connects to the carrier server 40.When a user terminal 20 dials via a radiotelephone communication, thevoice authentication center 42 authenticates the user by the voice fromthe user terminal 20. The voice authentication center 42 has a uservoice database 44, and inquires a user voice from the user terminal 20to the user voice registered in advance in the user voice database 44.The user voice database 44 stores voice information registered by theuser of the user terminal 20 in advance. The voice information of theuser is, for example, the voice data of a predetermined registered wordthe user speaks.

The voice authentication center 42 connects to the cashier database 50and the user database 60, and checks registration status and paymenthistory of the user. The voice authentication center 42 may alsoretrieve the cashier server registered in the cashier database 50 basedon the transaction ID the user transmitted, and checks the registrationof the cashier server.

The other components marked the same as in FIG. 1 will not be describedhere because these components have the same action and construction asthe first embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 16 to FIG. 19, processing of the electronic settlementof the present embodiment are described as follows. FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the settlement processing according to the electronicsettlement system of the present embodiment. FIGS. 17 to FIG. 19 showdetailed flow charts of the processing in FIG. 16.

A difference of the present embodiment from the first embodiment is,when a user terminal 20 chooses the synchronizing settlement menu andstarts a settlement, the user terminal 20 is connected to the voiceauthentication center 42 via the carrier server 40, and a voiceauthentication is performed. Other processing are the same as the firstembodiment. Here, the processing that are different from the firstembodiment will be described.

First, the user chooses the electronic settlement menu from the userterminal 20 and starts an electronic settlement (300). Informationdirecting the user to input an “ordering telephone number” is displayedon the user terminal 20. The user inputs an “ordering telephone number”listed in an advertisement of a mail order or a catalog (302), and atelephone call is made (304). “Ordering telephone number” is a telephonenumber of the voice authentication center 42. The user terminal 20 isconnected to the voice authentication center 42 with a telephonecommunication line. Information from the user terminal 20 to the voiceauthentication center 42 is transmitted by voice or input by keypad.Information from the voice authentication center 42 to the user terminal20 is sent by voice direction or voice guidance providing information.

When the voice authentication center 42 receives a telephone call fromthe user terminal 20, the voice authentication center 42 inquires theuser data (306). Referring to FIG. 17, a processing of user data inquiry306 is described as follows. The voice authentication center 42,receiving the telephone call from the user terminal 20, detects a userterminal number of the user terminal 20 (3060).

An example of the user terminal number of the user terminal 20 is acalling telephone number. When the user terminal 20 is set a callingnumber delivery service, the receiver may detect the calling telephonenumber. When the user terminal 20 does not set a calling number deliveryservice, the receiver may not detect the calling telephone number. Insuch a case the voice authentication center 42 sends to the userterminal 20 voice guidance prompting the user to set the calling numberdelivery service of the user terminal 20.

The voice authentication center 42 accesses the user database 60 (3062),and checks if the user terminal 20 has registered based on the userterminal number (3064). If the user terminal 20 does not have a userregistration, the voice authentication center 42 transmits to the userterminal 20 voice guidance notifying the user terminal 20 is notregistered in the database (3066), shuts down the connection to the userterminal 20 (3068), and finishes the processing.

When the user registration is verified, the user data is retrieved fromthe user database 60 (3070). Information about payment history of theuser is written in the user data. The voice authentication center 42checks if the user has a problem in his or her payment history on his orher credit card or his or her bankcard based on the information (3072).When any problem is found in his or her payment history, the voiceauthentication center 42 transmits the user terminal 20 voice guidanceto notify that the authentication service is not available (3074), shutsthe connection to the user terminal 20 down (3076), and finishes theprocessing. When the user does not have any problem with his paymenthistory, the voice authentication center 42 finishes the processing ofthe user data inquiry 306, and goes to the next step.

Referring back to FIG. 16, the voice authentication center 42, after theprocessing of the user data inquiry 306, performs the processing ofvoice authentication 308. Referring to FIG. 18, the processing of thevoice authentication 308 will be described as follows. The voiceauthentication center 42 accesses the user voice database 44 (3080), anddetects user voice information for the user of the user terminal 20 fromthe user voice database 44 based on the user terminal number of the userterminal 20 previously detected (3082). The user voice information isvoice data of a predetermined registered word the user speaks. Aregistered word require count variable n, which stores the registeredword require count, is initialized to 0 (3084). The registered wordrequire count is incremented from n to n+1 (3086). A voice guidancerequiring the user to speak the word which is previously registered istransmitted to the user terminal 20 (3088). This voice guidance may be avoice message that says, “Please speak the registered word clearly afterthe beep. When finished, please push #.” The user terminal 20 receivesthis voice guidance. The user speaks the registered word, so that thevoice of the user is input to the user terminal 20 (3090). The spokenuser voice is transmitted to the voice authentication center 42 (3092).The voice authentication center 42 verifies the voice of the registeredword transmitted from the user terminal 20 to the user voice of theregistered word retrieved from the user voice database 44 (3094). Whenthe voice transmitted from the user terminal 20 and the user voiceretrieved from the user voice database 44 are judged to be the same bythe voice verification, the processing of the voice authentication 308is finished. In case where the user voice the user terminal 20 does notmatch the registered user voice by the voice verification, the voiceauthentication center 42 checks whether the registered word requirecount n exceeds 2 (3096), if n does not exceeds 2, it goes back to theprocessing 3086, and repeats the request of the registered word. In acase that n exceeds 2, the voice authentication is invalid (3098),transmits voice guidance to the user terminal 20 (3100) notifying thatthe voice authentication is invalid, and finishes the processing.

Referring back to FIG. 16, the voice authentication center 42, finishingthe processing of the voice authentication and having succeeded the uservoice authentication, transmits voice guidance that prompts the user toinput the transaction ID to the user terminal 20 (310). This voiceguidance may be a voice message such as “You are authenticated. Pleaseinput a transaction ID”. The user inputs the transaction ID from theuser terminal 20 (312). In the present embodiment, the transaction ID isa number to identify a cashier server 14 performing the mail ordermerchandise.

The input transaction ID is transmitted to the voice authenticationcenter 42 (314). The voice authentication center 42 makes an inquiry toa cashier data based on the transaction ID received from the userterminal 20 (315). FIG. 19 shows the details of the cashier data inquiry315 shown in FIG. 16. The processing of the cashier data inquiry 315will be described as follows. The cashier database 50 is accessed(3182), and checked whether a cashier server corresponding to thetransaction ID is registered (3184). When a cashier server 14 is notregistered, voice guidance notifying that the cashier servercorresponding to the transaction ID can not be found is transmitted tothe user terminal 20 (3186). A voice message saying “We cannot find thecashier you have chosen” is sent to the user terminal, and it goes backto the processing of the input of the transaction ID 312. A situationthat the cashier server 14 corresponding to a transaction ID cannot befound may happen when the user input an incorrect transaction ID or whena transaction ID of the mail order retailer has passed the expiry date.

When the cashier server corresponding to the transaction ID isregistered, the cashier data is retrieved (3188). Information such as aretailer name, an authentication method, and an access number to thecashier server 14 are registered in a cashier data. An access number ofthe cashier server 14 is retrieved from the cashier data. The accessnumber is, for example, a connecting telephone number of the cashierserver 14. When the cashier data is retrieved, the voice guidanceconfirming the cashier data is transmitted to the user terminal 20. Forexample, voice message “OO mail order catalog July is chosen. Ifcorrect, please hang up and wait for a call back from the orderingcenter. If incorrect, please input the transaction ID again” is sent tothe user terminal 20.

Referring back to FIG. 16, the voice authentication center 42, after theprocessing of the cashier data inquiry 315, transmits an order receivinginstruction and sends the transaction ID to the synchronizing server 30.The voice authentication center 42 transmits voice guidance “please hangup and wait for a message from the ordering center” to the user terminal20. The telephone connection between the voice authentication center 42and the user terminal 20 is shut down (316).

The synchronizing server 30 receives an order receiving instruction fromthe voice authentication center 42 and receives the transaction ID(316). The synchronizing server 30 accesses the cashier server 14corresponding to the transaction ID (320). The cashier server 14activates a virtual cashier terminal 12 (322). The virtual cashierterminal 12 is an apparatus or a processing performing as a cashier. Thevirtual cashier terminal 12 may be a terminal device provided in thecashier server, or may be a program activated in the cashier server. Thevirtual cashier terminal 12 is connected to the synchronizing server 30(323).

The synchronizing server 30, when the server connects to the virtualcashier terminal 12, creates a “link information” in order to identify atransaction to the virtual cashier terminal 12 (324). The linkinformation in the present embodiment is an example of a transactionidentifying numbers that identifies the transaction between the userterminal 20 and the virtual cashier terminal 12. The synchronizingserver 30 synchronizes the communication to the user terminal 20 withthe communication to the virtual cashier terminal 12 based on the linkinformation, and processes the settlement of the transaction. The linkinformation includes not only the transaction identifying number butalso cashier identifying information that identifies a cashier server 14such as a name of a mail order retailer or a welcome message.

The synchronizing server 30 sends the link information to the userterminal 20 (326). The user terminal 20, receiving the link informationfrom the synchronizing server 30, displaying a welcome message on thescreen as shown in FIG. 13( f) of the first embodiment. The user,looking at the information, confirms whether the present site is thesite he or she wants to connect to (328). When the user chooses the“link” on the display, the user terminal 20 transmits link informationconfirming a signal to the synchronizing server 30 (330). The linkinformation confirming signal includes the cashier terminal identifyingsignal which is included in the link information in order to identifythe virtual cashier terminal 12.

The user, choosing “cancel” on the display, may cancel the electronicsettlement. This cancellation processing is performed in such a casethat because the user inputs an incorrect transaction ID, an unwantedmail order site is displayed.

The synchronizing server 30, receiving the link information confirmingsignal from the user terminal 20, establishes a synchronization (332).

The settlement processing after the synchronization processing (332)will not be described here, as the processing are the same as the firstembodiment.

Here, in the present embodiment, the voice authentication center 42performs the processing of cashier data inquiry 315 and transmits thetransaction ID to the synchronizing server 30. As another case, at thepoint of the processing when the user voice authentication 308 iscompleted, the voice authentication center 42 may transmit theinformation of the completion to the synchronizing server 30. In thiscase, the synchronizing server 30 performs the processing from theprocessing of voice guidance transmission 310 to the processing of thecashier data inquiry 315.

The electronic settlement system of the present embodiment authenticatesa user by his or her voice before the electronic settlement, so that mayensure a high quality authentication.

(Third Embodiment)

The electronic settlement system according to the third embodiment ofthe present invention will be described as follows. Applying theelectronic settlement system of the present embodiment, as the firstembodiment, a user may order items and execute settlement via a network.The electronic settlement system of the present embodiment adopts imageauthentication for an authentication method for user authentication. Therest of the embodiment is almost the same as the first embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronicsettlement system of the present embodiment. The electronic settlementsystem of the present embodiment has a virtual cashier terminal 12 as anexample of a billing terminal, a cashier server 14 which includes aplurality of virtual cashier terminals 12, a user terminal 20 as anexample of a paying terminal, a synchronizing server 30 as an example ofa settlement apparatus, a carrier server 40, a cashier database 50 as anexample of a billing terminal database, a user database 60 as an exampleof a paying terminal database, a user account database 70, an imageauthentication center 46, and a user image database 48.

The image authentication center 46 authenticates a user based on animage transmitted from the user terminal 20. The image authenticationcenter 46 has a user image data base 48, and verifies an imagetransmitted from the user terminal 20 with the user image previouslyregistered in the user image database 48. Image data of a user's facialportrait, image data of an iris or a retina of the user, or image dataof a user's fingerprint may be used for the user image. The userregisters this image data as authentication data in the user imagedatabase 48 in advance.

FIG. 21 shows a configuration of a portable terminal that includescommunication facilities as an example of a user terminal 20 applyingthe present embodiment. The portable terminal 90 may connect to acellular phone 92 and wirelessly communicate to networks. The portableterminal 90 may read in the user facial portrait image by connecting aCCD camera 94 or read in a user fingerprint by connecting to a fingerprint scanner 96. The portable terminal 90 may include a wirelesscommunication facility working as a cellular phone 92, a scanningfunction working as a CCD camera 94, and a fingerprint scanning functionworking as a finger print scanner 96 inside the portable terminal 90.

The other components marked the same as in FIG. 1 will not be describedhere because these components have the same action and construction asthe first embodiment.

FIG. 22 is a flow chart showing the settlement processing applying theelectronic settlement system of the present embodiment. In FIG. 22, theprocessing and communications marked the same as in FIG. 5 will notdescribed here because they are the same as the first embodiment. Theprocessing of a user image data authentication 211, which is differentfrom the first embodiment, will be described here.

FIG. 23 is a flow chart showing the processing of the user image dataauthentication 211. The synchronizing server 30 performs authenticationof a user based on an authentication method decided from the cashierterminal information inquiry 206. The authentication method may be oneof authentications that uses personal image information to identify theuser as an individual such as a facial portrait image authentication, anauthentication with an image of an iris or a retina, and anauthentication with a finger print image. The synchronizing server 30,in order to perform image authentication, accesses the user imagedatabase 48 (2700), retrieves user image data necessary forauthentication and generates the authentication data (2702). Thesynchronizing server 30 initializes image data require count variable n,which stores the imaged at a require count, to 0 (2704). Thesynchronizing server 30 increments n to n+1 (2706) , and transmits animage data request message to the user terminal 20 (2708). Informationprompting the user to input the image information such as a facialportrait image, an iris or retina image, or a finger print image of theuser to the user terminal 20 is displayed on the user terminal 20. Theuser, using the CCD camera 94 or the finger print scanner 96 attached tothe user terminal 20 and so on, inputs image data to the user terminal20(2710). The user terminal 20 transmits the image data inputted by theuser to the synchronizing server 30 (2712). The synchronizing server 30receives the image data transmitted from the user terminal 20, and makesan inquiry to the image data retrieved from the user image database 48(2714).

If the image data transmitted from the user terminal 20 is not matchedwith the image data retrieved from the user image database 48, whetherthe image data require count n is 2 or more is checked (2716), if not,it goes back to the processing 2706 and requests the image data again.If the image data require count n is 2 or more, the authenticationprocessing is finished (2718) and an invalid message is transmitted tothe user terminal 20 (2720). Because the authentication is notconfirmed, information that the settlement service is not available isdisplayed on the user terminal 20 (2724).

In the image data verification 2714, when the synchronizing server 30verifies the image data has been transmitted from the user, theprocessing of the user image data authentication 211 is finished.

The electronic settlement system of the present embodiment may ensure asafe electronic settlement for a user by prompting the user to transmitthe image data that identifies an individual such as a facial portrait,iris or retina, or finger print in order to authenticate the user. Withthe image authentication, it differs from voice authentication thatneeds to connect a cellular phone to an audio carrier, using a datapacket communication facility of a cellular phone, the authenticationand the settlement may be performed in succession.

(Fourth Embodiment)

An electronic settlement system according to the fourth embodiment ofthe present invention will be described as follows. Applying theelectronic settlement system of the present embodiment, as the firstembodiment, a user may order items and execute settlement via a network.The present embodiment differs from the first embodiment as follows. Theuser does not need to input a transaction ID to identify a cashierserver 14 which performs the mail order merchandise. The user may orderan item by making a telephone call to an order-receiving center of themail order merchandise, and may verbally explain the order to anorder-receiving operator.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an electronicsettlement system of the present embodiment. The electronic settlementsystem of the present embodiment has a virtual cashier terminal 12 as anexample of a billing terminal, a cashier server 14 which includes aplurality of virtual cashier terminals 12, an order-receiving center 15,a user terminal 20 as an example of a paying terminal, a synchronizingserver 30 as an example of a settlement apparatus, a carrier server 40,a cashier database 50 as an example of a billing terminal database, auser database 60 as an example of a paying terminal database, and a useraccount database 70.

The order-receiving center 15 receives an order by telephone for mailorder merchandise. At the order-receiving center 15, an operatorreceives an order from a user by telephone, the operator ensures theorder, creates an order list using an order receiving management meansof the order-receiving center 15. The order-receiving center 15retrieves identifying information of the user terminal 20, such as acalling telephone number of the user terminal 20. When the user terminal20 is set a calling number delivery service, the receiver may detect thecalling telephone number. When the user terminal 20 does not set thecalling number delivery service, the receiver can not detect the callingtelephone number. In such a case, the operator asks the user his or hercalling telephone number.

The order-receiving center 15, using a communicating means 19, transmitsthe calling telephone number of the user terminal 20 and the order listto the cashier server 14, and activates the virtual cashier terminal 12to bill the transaction. The communicating means 19 may be either acommercial telephone line or a private line. A LAN may be used forconnecting the order-receiving center 15 with the cashier server 14.

The other components marked the same as in FIG. 1 will not be describedhere because these components have the same action and construction asthe first embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a flow chart showing the settlement processing applying theelectronic settlement system of the present embodiment. The user inputs“ordering telephone number” listed in an advertisement of a mail orderor a catalog (302), and makes a telephone call to the order-receivingcenter 15 (304). The order-receiving center 15 retrieves the callingtelephone number of the user terminal 20 as an identifying informationof the user terminal 20. The user, talking to the operator of theorder-receiving center 15, orders an item (307). The operator inputs theorder using an order receiving management means of the order-receivingcenter 15, and creates an order list (309). The operator confirms theorder to the user, tells a purchase amount, and asks a settlementmethod. When the user chooses electronic synchronizing settlement (311),the order-receiving center 15 transmits to the cashier server 14 thecalling telephone number of the user terminal 20 and the order list, andactivates the virtual cashier terminal 12 which performs the billing ofthe transaction (313). The operator of the order-receiving center 15directs the user to hang up and wait for delivery of a message of thesynchronizing settlement, and then hang up the telephone.

The cashier server 14 activates the virtual cashier terminal 12 (322).The virtual cashier terminal 12 is an apparatus or a processingperforming as a cashier, may be a terminal device provided in thecashier server, or may be a program activated in the cashier server. Thevirtual cashier terminal 12 is connected to the synchronizing server 30,and transmits identifying information of the cashier server 14 (323).

The synchronizing server 30 makes an inquiry to the cashier data basedon the identifying information of the cashier server 14 transmitted fromthe virtual cashier terminal 12 (315). Because the processing of thecashier data inquiry 315 is the same as the processing of the cashierdata inquiry 206 in the first embodiment, the processing is notdescribed here.

The synchronizing server 30 creates “link information” in order toidentify a transaction to the virtual cashier terminal 12 (324). Thelink information includes cashier terminal identifying information toidentify the virtual cashier terminal 12 connected to the synchronizingserver 30 and cashier identifying information that identifies a cashierserver 14 such as a name of a mail order retailer or a welcome message.The cashier terminal identifying information is an example of atransaction identifying number, and identifies a transaction between theuser terminal 20 and the virtual cashier terminal 12. The synchronizingserver 30 synchronizes the communication to the user terminal 20 withthe communication to the virtual cashier terminal 12 based on the linkinformation, and performs the settlement processing.

The synchronizing server 30 sends the link information to the userterminal 20 (326). The user terminal 20 receives the link informationfrom the synchronizing server 30, and displays a welcome message on thescreen as shown in FIG. 13( f) of the first embodiment. The user,looking at the information, confirms whether the present site is thesite he or she has wanted to connect to (328). When the user chooses the“link” on the display, the user terminal 20 transmits link informationconfirming the signal is transmitted to the synchronizing server 30(330). The link information confirming signal includes the cashierterminal confirming signal which is included in the link information inorder to identify the virtual cashier terminal 12.

The user, choosing “cancel” on the display, may cancel the synchronizedsettlement. This cancellation processing is performed in such a casethat the user inputs an incorrect transaction ID so that an unwantedmail order site is displayed and so on.

The synchronizing server 30, receiving the link information confirmingsignal from the user terminal 20 and establishes synchronization (332).

The synchronization processing 332 will not be described here hence theprocessing are the same as the first embodiment. When thesynchronization is established, the synchronizing server 30 transmits asynchronization signal to the virtual cashier terminal 12 (334). Thevirtual cashier terminal 12, receiving the synchronization signal,calculates a purchase amount based on the order list received from theorder-receiving center 15 (346), and transmits the purchase amountinformation including the order and the purchase amount to thesynchronizing server 30 (348). The synchronizing server 30 performs thepassword authentication (349). Because the processing of the passwordauthentication 349 is the same as the processing of the passwordauthentication 210 in the first embodiment, the processing is notdescribed here.

The password authentication 349 performed by the synchronizing server 30is based on the authentication method appointed by the cashier server 14in the processing of the cashier data inquiry 315. The cashier server 14may appoint the authentication method as the password authentication isperformed when the purchase amount exceeds a predetermined limit. In theother case, the user may appoint an authentication method. For example,the authentication method to perform the password authentication ispreviously appointed in the user database 60, in order to preventimproper use in such a case that the user terminal 20 is stolen. Thesynchronizing server 30 may retrieve the authentication method the userappointed from the user database 60 in the processing of the user datainquiry 306, may be combined with the authentication method appointed bythe cashier server 14, and may decide the authentication method.

After the password authentication processing 349, the processing fromthe available amount checking 350 to the completion of the settlementare the same as the processing of the first embodiment, therefore theprocessing is not described here. The virtual cashier terminal 12receives a settlement completion notification from the synchronizingserver 30 (360), and transmits an ordering direction to theorder-receiving center 15 (367). The order-receiving center, receivingthe order, performs a transaction of order to a shipping center (368).The order received from the virtual cashier terminal 12 includes thecalling telephone number as an identifying number to identify the userterminal 20, and the order-receiving center 15 may specify the orderreceived form the user terminal 20 based on the calling telephonenumber.

The order-receiving center 15 may answer another user after transmittingthe order to the virtual cashier terminal 12 in the processing 313. Theorder-receiving center 15 may specify the order, replace the order listto an item list in the order, and direct to the shipping center at thepoint of the processing 367, when the order is received from the virtualcashier terminal 12.

In the above described embodiment, the calling telephone number is usedfor identifying information of the user terminal 20. In another case,the synchronizing server 30 sends the link information based on thecalling telephone number of the user terminal 20. An e-mail address ofthe user may replace the calling telephone number, and the linkinformation is transmitted to the user terminal 20 by e-mail.

Applying the electronic settlement system of the present embodiment, theuser does not need to input the transaction ID to identify the cashierserver 14 to merchandise the mail order. The order may be performed by atelephone call to the order-receiving center of the mail order retailerin a dialog with the order receiving operator. The user does not need toinput the ordering information about the item from the user terminal 20.Therefore, the user may order and settle the mail order transactionsimply and easily. Especially, when the user uses a cellular phone forthe user terminal 20, telephone communication is easier than the inputof letters and numbers. Therefore convenience of the system is improved.

A modification of the present embodiment is described as follows. Theelectronic settlement system described above may be applied to asettlement over the counter in a store. After a clerk finishes anaccounting procedure for a purchase by a customer at a cashier terminal,the clerk inquires the calling telephone number of the user terminal 20or an e-mail address of the customer, and inputs to the cashierterminal. The cashier terminal transmits the calling telephone number ofthe user terminal 20 or the e-mail address of the customer to thesynchronizing server 30. The synchronizing server 30 sends the linkinformation to the user terminal 20 based on the calling telephonenumber of the user terminal 20 or the e-mail address of the customerreceived from the cashier terminal. The link information includescashier information of the cashier of the store. The user may confirmthe cashier by the link information displayed on the user terminal 20.The user terminal 20 transmits a link information confirmation signal tothe synchronizing server 30. The synchronizing server 30 establishessynchronization of the communication with the cashier in the store.Thus, the electronic settlement is the same as the electronic settlementsystem described above and may be performed between the user terminal 20and the cashier terminal in the store.

In the above described modification, instead of the customer giving thecalling telephone number of the user terminal 20 or the e-mail addressof the customer, the user terminal 20 may transmit the calling telephonenumber of the user terminal 20 or the e-mail address of the customerusing a light communication such as an infrared communication or a shortrange wireless communication. In another case, the user terminal 20 maydisplay the calling telephone number of the user terminal 20 or thee-mail address of the customer on the display in the form of a patterncode such as a barcode or a cyber code which is a two dimension barcode. The customer allows a pattern code reader provided in the cashierterminal to read a pattern code displayed on the user terminal 20, andsends the calling telephone number of the user terminal 20 or the e-mailaddress of the customer.

(Fifth Embodiment)

The synchronizing server 30 as an example of the settlement apparatus inthe electronic settlement system according to the first, second, third,and fourth embodiments may be realized using a general-purpose computer.FIG. 26 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of ageneral-purpose computer 600. As shown in FIG. 26, a CPU 602 of thecomputer 600 is operated based on the programs stored in a ROM 604 and aRAM 606. Using an input device 608, an administrator of thesynchronizing server 30 may input data or commands. Setting informationand programs to operate the CPU 602 are stored in a hard disk drive 610as an example of a storing device.

A floppy disk drive 614 reads data or programs from a floppy disk 624and provides this to the CPU 602. A CD-ROM drive 616 reads data orprograms from a CD-ROM 626 and provides this to the CPU 602. A firstcommunication interface 618 connects to a transmission line 18 andcommunicates data. A second communication interface 620 connects to atransmission line 38 and communicates data. A database interface 612connects to databases 622 and communicates data with the database.Furthermore, the synchronizing server 30 has an interface to connectwith a display 628 so that the administrator may watch an operationalstatus of the synchronizing server 30, or check the setting informationusing the display 628.

FIG. 27 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of thesoftware operating the CPU 602 shown in FIG. 26. This software isprovided to users stored in a recording media such as a floppy disk 624or a CD-ROM 626 and soon. The software stored in the recording media maybe compressed or non-compressed. The software is installed from therecording media to the hard disk drive 610, read out to the RAM 606, andexecuted by the CPU 602.

The software stored in the recording media to be provided, that is thesoftware installed in the hard disk drive 610, has a settlementprocessing module 640, a first communication module 642, a secondcommunication module 644, and a database retrieving module 646, for itsfunctional configuration.

The processing, performed by the CPU 602 operating the computer 600, ofthe settlement processing module 640, the first communication module642, the second communication module 644, and the database retrievemodule 646, are the same as each of the settlement processing unit 80,the first communication unit 82, the second communication unit 84, andthe database retrieving unit 86 in the synchronizing server 30 accordingto the first, second, third and fourth embodiment; therefore theseprocessing will not be described here.

The floppy disk 624 or CD-ROM 626 shown in FIG. 26, as an example of therecording media, may store a part of or all of the function for theoperation of the synchronizing server 30 as an example of the settlementapparatus applying the entire embodiment described in the presentapplication. Furthermore, the synchronizing server 30 may replace a partof the operation of the cashier server 14 and the synchronizing server30 may operate a part of the operation of the cashier server 14 of theabove described embodiment. In such case, the part of the operation ofthe cashier server 14 described in the above embodiment may be stored inthe floppy disk 624 or the CD-ROM 626.

These programs may be read to RAM directly from the recording media andexecuted, or be installed to the hard disk drive once, then read to RAMand executed. Furthermore, these above described programs may be storedin a single recording medium or a plurality of recording media. In othercases, these programs may be stored in an encoded form.

Besides a floppy disk and a CD-ROM, an optical recording media such as aDVD, a magnetic recording media such as an MD, a magnetic opticalrecording media such as a PD, a tape device, and a semiconductor memorysuch as an IC card or miniature card and so on may be used for arecording media. In other cases, using a store device such as a harddisk or a RAM provided in a server system for a recording media,connected to a private telecommunication network or an Internet, theprograms may be provided to the synchronizing server 30 via acommunication network. Such recording media are used only formanufacturing the synchronizing server 30, so that it is obvious thatmanufacturing and distribution of such recording media as vocationconstructs infringement of a patent based on the present application.

In the first, second, third, and fourth embodiments described above, thetransmission line 18 connecting the cashier server 14 with thesynchronizing server 30 may be a wireless communication or an Internet,other than a commercial telephone line or a private line. When thetransmission line 18 is the Internet, in order to ensure security of thedata communication to the synchronizing server 30, it is desirable tochoose a high security communication method.

In another case, a bit filtering means is provided on a communicationpathway between the carrier server 40 and the synchronizing server 30and/or a pathway between the cashier server 14 and the synchronizingserver 30. The bit filtering means may detect data format or bit patternof data sent between the user terminal 20 or the cashier server 14 andthe synchronizing server 30. Applying the present invention, becauseconfidential information such as personal information of user is notsent between the synchronizing server 30 and the user terminal 20 or thecashier server 14 so that the data does not need to be encrypted. Thus,the bit filtering means may observe the data format and the bit patternof the communicated data and find an unexpected access pattern easily.Therefore, false access to the electronic settlement system ordestroying access may be stopped.

As described above, according to the electronic settlement system of thefirst embodiment, the user, who read a mail order advertisement in anewspaper, a magazine, a mail order catalog and so on, may order itemsand execute settlement electronically. The user also may confirm if theconnected site is the correct mail order site he or she wanted by a linkinformation displayed on information in his or her portable terminalbefore confirming his or her order. The retailer of the mail order, byappointing the authentication method, may settle after authentication ofthe user by a password and so on.

According to the electronic settlement system of the second embodiment,the electronic settlement is performed after the user is authenticatedwith his or her voice. Thus, high accuracy authentication is ensured.

According to the electronic settlement system of the third embodiment,authentication of the user is performed by letting the user to transmitidentifying information image data of the user as an individual such asa facial portrait, an iris, a retina, or a finger print of the user,security of the electronic settlement is ensured. Applying imageauthentication, which differs from the voice authentication, using adata packet of communication facility attached to the cellular phone, acellular phone does not need to be connected to the voice carrier, sothat the authentication and the settlement may be performedsuccessfully.

According to the electronic settlement system of the fourth embodiment,the user does not need to input a transaction ID to identify the cashierserver 14 which performs the mail order merchandise, the order of anitem may be performed by making a telephone call to the mailorder-receiving center, and verbally explained to a order-receivingoperator. The user does not need to input ordering information of theitem from the user terminal 20, and ordering and settling the mail orderis convenient.

The electronic settlement system of the present invention has thefollowing advantages for the mail order retailer. Based on theuniqueness of the calling telephone number of a cellular phone, a secureuser authentication may be ensured. On the other hand, because thesystem has a selection of authentication methods, the accuracy of theauthentication may be easily varied corresponding to a settlement amountor a situation of the settlement.

The electronic settlement system of the present invention has thefollowing advantage for users. Carrying a cellular phone, which is acommunication terminal with a very good portability, a transaction maybe electronically settled anytime and anywhere; therefore the user doesnot need to carry cash, a credit card, a bank card, or an IC money cardand so on. Furthermore, the user, using a data packet communicationfacility of the cellular phone, may check if the payment is withdrawnfrom his or her account, his or her available amount, his or herpurchase history, and so on.

The electronic settlement system of the present invention has thefollowing advantage for a credit card company. Applying theauthentication method using a cellular phone may discourage a false useof stolen cards. Because a credit settlement may be performedelectronically using a cellular phone, issuing a credit card ormanagement of a credit card is no longer needed; costs may be reduced.Furthermore, using a combination authentication method, in a case that aperson responsible in the credit card company and so on moved datafalsely, settlement accounts of users may be protected from false use.

Although the present invention has been described by way of exemplaryembodiments, it should be understood that many changes and substitutionsmay be side by those skilled in the art without departing from thespirit and the scope of the present invention which is defined only bythe appended claims.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

It is obvious from the above description, according to the presentinvention, a settlement of a commercial transaction may be performedsafely and conveniently via a telecommunication network.

1. An electronic system for setting up an authentication through acommunication network, comprising: a personal terminal which is operatedfor participating in the authentication, said personal terminal beingconnectable to the communication network and including an informationindicating unit and an input unit for inputting an indication; a virtualterminal which is connectable to the communication network forparticipating in the authentication with said personal terminal; and asynchronizing server communicating with said personal terminal and withsaid virtual terminal, said synchronizing server activating the virtualterminal and setting up link information including authentication IDinformation in association with said virtual terminal and transmits saidlinks information to said personal terminal upon receipt by saidsynchronizing server of information regarding the authentication, andsaid synchronizing server establishing a synchronization ofcommunication between said personal terminal and said virtual terminalone-to-one upon receipt of both the same authentication ID informationand the indication in response to the link information indicated on theindicating unit from said personal terminal, wherein said personal andvirtual terminals send and receive messages in real time via thesynchronizing server during the synchronization, and the synchronizingserver initiates the virtual terminal after the communication.
 2. Anelectronic system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a cashierserver connected to said synchronizing server via the communicatingnetwork, said cashier server generating said virtual terminal.
 3. Anelectronic system as claimed in claim 1, wherein said personal terminalcomprises at least one of a cellular phase, a PDA and a notebook typepersonal computer; and the information regarding the authenticationcomprises personal terminal information including at least one of atelephone number and an e-mail address of said personal terminal.
 4. Anelectronic system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: a personalterminal database for storing personal terminal information including atleast one of a telephone number and an e-mail address of the personalterminal; and a virtual terminal database for storing virtual terminalinformation including at least information for identifying said virtualterminal, which information being indicated on said informationindicating unit of said personal terminal; wherein said synchronizingserver identifies said personal terminal based on the informationregarding the authentication transmitted from said personal terminal andthe personal terminal information stored in said personal terminaldatabase and transmits the virtual terminal information as a part of thelink information to said personal terminal.
 5. An electronic system asclaimed in claim 4, wherein said synchronizing server transmits thevirtual terminal information with an internet address to said personalterminal.
 6. An electronic system as claimed in claim 4, wherein thevirtual terminal information includes information relating to an itemfor the authentication.
 7. An electronic system as claimed in claim 1,wherein the information regarding the authentication includes a numberlisted in at least one of a mail order advertisement and a catalogdistributed to a user of said personal terminal in advance.
 8. Theelectronic system according to claim 1, wherein the synchronizing serverreceives the information regarding the authentication via the virtualterminal.
 9. The electronic system according to claim 1, wherein thesynchronizing server receives the information regarding theauthentication inputted by the input unit of the personal terminal. 10.The electronic system according to claim 1, wherein a the indicationinputted by the input unit includes a confirmation indicatingestablishment of the synchronization.
 11. An electronic server systemfor setting up an authentication through a communication network, whicheffects communication of a virtual terminal for participating in theauthentication with a personal terminal including an informationindicating unit and an input unit for inputting an indication,comprising, a communicating section connected to the communicationnetwork; and a processing unit for communicating with the personalterminal and with the virtual terminal through said communicatingsection, said processing unit activating the virtual terminal andsetting up link information including authentication ID information inassociation with the virtual terminal and transmitting said linkinformation which is indicatable in the information indicating unit ofthe personal terminal upon receipt of information regarding theauthentication, said processing unit establishing a synchronization ofcommunication between the personal terminal and the virtual terminalone-to-one upon receipt of both the same authentication ID informationtransmitted to the personal terminal and the indication in response tothe link information indicating on the indicating unit from the personalterminal, wherein said personal and virtual terminals send and receivemessages in real time via the processing unit server during thesynchronization, and the processing unit initiates the virtual terminalafter the communication.
 12. An electronic server system as claimed inclaim 11, wherein said virtual terminal connects to said processing unitvia a commercial telephone line or a private line, and said personalterminal connects to said processing unit via a radio telephonecommunication.
 13. An electronic server system as claimed in claim 11,further comprising a cashier server which includes the virtual terminal,wherein said processing unit transmits the indication for generating thevirtual terminal to said cashier server through said communicatingsection.
 14. An electronic server system as claimed in claim 11, whereinthe personal terminal comprises at least one of a cellular phone, a PDAand a notebook type personal computer; and the information regarding theauthentication comprises personal terminal information including atleast one of a telephone number and an e-mail address of the personalterminal.
 15. An electronic server system as claimed in claim 11,further comprising: a personal terminal database for storing personalterminal information including at least one of a telephone number and ane-mail address of the personal terminal; and a virtual terminal databasefor storing virtual terminal information including at least informationfor identifying the virtual terminal, which information being indicatedon the information indicating unit of the personal terminal; whereinsaid processing unit identifies the personal terminal based on theinformation regarding the authentication transmitted from the personalterminal and the personal terminal information stored in said personalterminal database and transmits the virtual terminal information as apart of the link information to the personal terminal through saidcommunicating section.
 16. An electronic server system as claimed inclaim 15, wherein said processing unit transmits the virtual terminalinformation with an internet address to the personal terminal.
 17. Anelectronic server system as claimed in claim 15, wherein the virtualterminal information includes information relating to an item for theauthentication.
 18. An electronic server system as claimed in claim 11,wherein the information regarding the authentication includes a numberlisted in at least one of a mail order advertisement and a catalogdistributed to a user of said personal terminal in advance.
 19. Anelectronic server system as claimed in claim 11, wherein saidcommunicating section further comprises a first communicating unitconnected to the virtual terminal via a first communicating network, anda second communicating unit connected to the personal terminal via asecond communicating network.
 20. The electronic server system accordingto claim 11, wherein the processing unit receives the informationregarding the authentication via the virtual terminal.
 21. Theelectronic servicer system according to claim 11, wherein the processingunit receives the information regarding the authentication inputted bythe input unit of the personal terminal.
 22. The electronic serversystem according to claim 11, wherein the indication inputted by theinput unit includes a confirmation indicating establishment of thesynchronization.
 23. A recording medium which stores a programexecutable by a computer, for setting up an authentication through acommunication network, which effects communication a virtual terminalfor participating in the authentication with a personal terminalincluding an information indicating unit and an input unit for inputtingindication, comprising: a communicating module which operates thecomputer to communicate with the virtual terminal and with the personalterminal through the communicating network, and a processing module forcommunicating with said personal terminal and with said virtual terminalthrough said communicating section, said processing module activatingthe virtual terminal and setting up link information includingauthentication ID information in association with said virtual terminaland transmitting said link information which is indicatable in theinformation indicating unit of the personal terminal upon receipt ofinformation regarding the authentication transmitted by said personalterminal, said processing module establishing a synchronization ofcommunication between said personal terminal and said virtual terminalone-to-one upon receipt of both the same authentication ID informationtransmitted to the personal terminal and the indication in response tothe link information indicated on the indicating unit from said personalterminal, wherein said processing module controls sending and receivingof messages in real time by said personal and virtual terminals duringthe synchronization, and initiates the virtual terminal after thecommunication.
 24. The recording medium according to claim 23, whereinthe processing module receives the information regarding theauthentication via the virtual terminal.
 25. The recording mediumaccording to claim 23, wherein the processing module receives theinformation regarding the authentication inputted by the input unit ofthe personal terminal.
 26. The recording medium according to claim 23,wherein the indication inputted by the input unit includes aconfirmation indicating establishment of the synchronization.
 27. Aelectronic server system for setting up an authentication through acommunication network, which communicates with a virtual terminal forparticipating in the authentication, a personal terminal having aninformation indicating unit, and an order-receiving center including anorder-receiving unit for receiving the information regarding theauthentication through an input unit of a communicating terminal forinputting information regarding the authentication; comprising: acommunicating section connected to the communication network; and aprocessing unit for activating the virtual terminal and setting up alink information including authentication ID information in everyauthentication and transmitting the link information which isindicatable in the information indicating unit of the personal terminal,upon receipt of the information regarding the authentication transmittedby the order-receiving unit through said communicating section, saidprocessing unit establishing a synchronization of communication betweenthe personal terminal and the virtual terminal one-to-one upon receiptof both the same authentication ID information transmitted to thepersonal terminal and an indication inputted by using the input unit inresponse to the link information indicated on the indicating unit fromthe personal terminal, wherein said personal and virtual terminals sendand receive messages in real time via the processing unit server duringthe synchronization and the processing unit initiates the virtualterminal after the communication.
 28. An electronic server system asclaimed in claim 27, wherein said communicating section connects to saidvirtual terminal via a commercial telephone line or a private line, andsaid communicating section connects to said personal terminal via radiotelephone communication.
 29. An electronic server system as claimed inclaim 27, further comprising a cashier server which includes the virtualterminal, wherein said processing unit transmits an instruction forgenerating the virtual terminal to said cashier server through saidcommunicating section.
 30. An electronic server system as claimed inclaim 27, wherein the personal terminal comprises at least one of acellular phone, a PDA and a notebook type personal computer, and theinformation regarding the authentication comprises personal terminalinformation including at least one of a telephone number and an e-mailaddress of the personal terminal.
 31. An electronic server system asclaimed in claim 27, further comprising: a personal terminal databasefor storing personal terminal information including at least one of atelephone number and an e-mail address of the personal terminal; and avirtual terminal database for storing virtual terminal informationincluding at least information for identifying said virtual terminal,which information being indicated on said indicating unit of thepersonal terminal; wherein said processing unit identifies the personalterminal based on the information regarding the authenticationtransmitted from the communicating terminal and the personal terminalinformation stored in said personal terminal database and transmits thevirtual terminal information as a part of the link information to thepersonal terminal through said communicating section.
 32. An electronicserver system as claimed in claim 31, wherein said processing unittransmits the virtual terminal information with an internet address tothe personal terminal.
 33. An electronic server system as claimed inclaim 31, wherein the virtual terminal information includes informationrelating to an item for the authentication.
 34. An electronic serversystem as claimed in claim 27, wherein the information regarding theauthentication includes a number listed in at least one of a mail orderadvertisement and a catalog distributed to a user of said personalterminal in advance.
 35. An electronic server system as claimed in claim34, wherein said communicating section is connectable to theorder-receiving center through a communicating line.
 36. An electronicserver system as claimed in claim 27, wherein said communicating sectioncomprises: a first communicating unit connected to the virtual terminalvia a first communicating network; and a second communicating unitconnected to the personal terminal via a second communicating network.37. An electronic server system as claimed in claim 27, wherein thepersonal terminal includes a phone and said communicating sectionreceives information relating to the information regarding theauthentication inputted from the input unit of said personal terminalwith voice into the order-receiving unit.
 38. An electronic serversystem as claimed in claim 27, wherein the personal terminal comprisesat least one of a cellular phone, a PDA and a notebook type personalcomputer; and the communicating section is connectable to theorder-receiving center through a communicating line comprising at leastone of a telephone line, a private line and a LAN.
 39. The electronicserver system according to claim 27, wherein the processing unitreceives the information regarding the authentication via the virtualterminal.
 40. The electronic server system according to claim 27,wherein the processing unit receives the information regarding theauthentication inputted by the input unit of the communicating terminal.41. The electronic server system according to claim 27, wherein theindication inputted by the input unit includes a confirmation indicatingestablishment of the synchronization.
 42. A recording medium whichstores a program executable by a computer, for setting up anauthentication through a communication network, which effectscommunication with a virtual terminal for participating in theauthentication, a personal terminal having an information indicatingunit, and an order-receiving center including an order-receiving unitfor receiving the information regarding the authentication through aninput unit of a communicating terminal for inputting informationregarding the authentication: comprising; a communicating module whichoperates the computer to communicate with the virtual terminal and withthe personal terminal through the communicating network; and aprocessing module for activating the virtual terminal and setting up alink information including authentication ID information in everyauthentication and transmitting the link information which isindicatable in the information indicating unit of the personal terminalupon receipt of the information regarding the authentication transmittedby the order-receiving unit through the communicating section, saidprocessing module establishing a synchronization of communicationbetween the personal terminal and the virtual terminal one-to-one uponreceipt of both the same authentication ID information transmitted tothe personal terminal and an indication inputted by using the input unitin response to the link information indicated on the indicating unitfrom the personal terminal, wherein said processing module controlssending and receiving of real time messages by said personal and virtualterminals during the synchronization and initiating the virtual terminalafter the communication.
 43. The recording medium according to claim 42,wherein the processing module receives the information regarding theauthentication via the virtual terminal.
 44. The recording mediumaccording to claim 42, wherein the processing module receives theinformation regarding the authentication inputted by the input unit ofthe communicating terminal.
 45. The recording medium according to claim42, wherein the indication inputted by the input unit includes aconfirmation indicating establishment of the synchronization.